Bought last year off ebay, looking like this

It had a months MOT and tax, so i drove it home from Northampton with no problems (despite 4 bald tyres oops!).

Put some spare wheels with good tyres on off me bro:

Put it in for it's MOT and it passed first time!!

Done the headgasket

Serviced it all up

Polybushed a few bits

Stripped the back out

Lowered it on a cheapo kit for now

Put some VW montreals

I use it every day, and it runs really well, considering its 166,000 miles!

Plans are:

Paint (colour TBA) - bodywork and rust treatment included.

Lower more on the front (might put the front on coilovers for a better ride though)

Interior work

Generally keep it running as it should and serviced up often

Few mods to make it quicker (already chipped it, need air filter and just bought a 4 branch and decat pipe) but nothing spectacular as it's a daily driver.

Cheers,

Joe

^^^^^^^

The above post is a bit dated, to bring us up to date, i have recently:

- Replaced both tie rods / track rod ends

- Bought some corrado seats (£40 bargain as they're fairly mint)

- Put some decent sounds in the car - although i do need to put my better headunit in.

- BOUGHT A BLUE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR!!!!! Many thanks to JRegGT (Rich) for helping me out!!

Took some more recent pictures last night when i was giving it an oil change:

Heavenly seats!

Blue passenger side door woop! Just need to paint that red lead now!

Going to lop a coil out of the front and maybe raise the back a notch then ill be happy with the way it sits hopefully. After that i just intend to try and clean it up a bit and make it look more presentable.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

I used to have one in this colour and it looked lovely all cleaned up. :) How come you've removed the vinyl trim from the B-pillars but not the doors? It looks a bit weird with one but not the other. It will look pretty good without it I reckon, most colours do anyway. :)

This is actually a bit of a blast from the past as in 2003 I had the same colour car with those wheels on, although my wheels were standard silver.

How come you've removed the vinyl trim from the B-pillars but not the doors? It looks a bit weird with one but not the other. It will look pretty good without it I reckon, most colours do anyway. :)

Wasnt a concious thing tbh, i do intend to take the vinyl off the door, will put it on my to-do list!

Yeh i do like the colour, i bought this car with the intention of painting it something different but i've changed my mind. It's took me a while to source a door in the same colour - i didnt want to just paint the white door blue as it would have stuck out like a sore thumb against the rest of the car. So i'm just going to blow a few bits in now with a rattle can, not fussy if it looks a bit patchy close up, adds character i think!

I like the Montreals - always fancied a set. I did originally intend to paint them silver, but for speed i just primered then satin blacked them. Might change to OEM silver sometime in the future - i love a clean OEM style.

You still got your saloon Gaz? I remember your royal blue breadvan with ABD engine, and didnt you have a white mk2 breadvan that you converted to injection?

Cheers,

Joe

Yeah that's right, the ABD actually started out in my medium blue GT squareback before I had to scrap it (was rear ended by uninsured driver ) I will see if I can find a pic of it on the montreals from 'back int day'

The white ranger on fuel injecton was a lovely car and I was well chuffed with the injection conversion after the crappy pierburg it had before! But once I got the loon I spent all my time on that and It sat unused for months. After no takers even for £300 with T&T I reluctantly broke it for spares when the MOT ran out.

I've still got the loon but it's now running an ABD on fuel injection. :) I don't stray too far from what I know

Well, here it is, taken on my old 2.1MP camera in around April 2004

Parked next to it was it's immediate replacement, another GT square that I sold to Steve_O after doing it up (engine from blue one went in it while the blue one got the 1.4 conversion)

Haha almost twins!!

Looks like it was a goodun, plus and early H-plate GT with no sunroof is always cool.

Makes me wonder how many original GT breadvans are left in this colour, not seen another lately.

Good to hear you've still got the 'loon pal, i must admit i've strayed from polos a couple of times (golfs, audis etc) but they seem to have an ability to draw you back to them dont they, despite their unnerving characterisitcs in the wet amongst other exclusive characteristics!

Joe

Look like a great transformation mate, good work!

The blue one had a sunroof! In fact it was spec'd up. It had tinted windows and a set of factory fitted zolder alloys when I bought it. Was my favourite car out of all of my squarebacks. :( The black GT in comparison had no options on it, which was the main reason I sold it in the end, I didn't like the lack of tinted windows and I missed the sunroof even more which is why I got the royal blue one as it too was spec'd up with the same extras as the medium blue one. :)

I only ever had dodgy handling from my polos with bad tyres or knackered suspension. Both of which occurred on my royal blue one. One of the rear springs had snapped right at the top on the last coil from the original suspension, which made for 'interesting' handling and I had a couple of sets of wheels with bad tyres on, the worst of which were a set of vredsteins on some coupe s wheels, closely followed by some kumho ecstas which were great in the dry but lethal under braking in the wet.

I put the montreals on the black one and painted the centre caps black. They looked pretty good then and I think steve_O kept them on the car for the whole time he had it he liked them so much

No massive update from me on the GT front.

Just flew through its MOT on Saturday for the 2nd time running. 1 advisory on a split CV boot. Chuffed to bits!!!!!

Took it round Devon a few weeks ago, 750 miles of trouble free motoring doing 45 mpg fully laden on the motorway. Ace.

Plans:

- Sort out rust issues before winter sets in

- Might cut the middle box out or exchange it for something smaller. Generally the exhaust needs some work to stop it blowing & hanging correctly

- Install a new shift finger, as 1st gear is getting a bit tricky to select on occasion

- Maybe lower the front a bit more

- Install false floor and carpet in back

- Get another tailgate and paint it (mines too far gone to repair, holes etc!!)

Cheers

Joe

Edited 3 November, 201114 yr by polo_joe

Love it! Where abouts in Devon did you stay? Breadvans are excellent for camping!

We went to Illfracombe for 2 nights, then down to a farm in Nomansland (lol) near Tiverton, then headed down to the south coast (east Devon), little fishing village called Beer where we camped right on the top of the cliffs, lovely. Finally on the way home we spent the day in Bath before shooting back up to Bolton lol.

Car was excellent throughout....even the ride quality improved with all the extra weight! It's amazing how much stuff you can actually cram into a breadvan with no back seats!!

Joe

Car was excellent throughout....even the ride quality improved with all the extra weight! It's amazing how much stuff you can actually cram into a breadvan with no back seats!!

Joe

Couldn't agree more! I took the rear seats out on a camping trip to Devon in May and had a roofbox, car wasn't even full to capacity but we had all we needed! Extremely understated breadvans are!

This is looking miles better. Still got the red GT i bought from your bro. Will be updating my build thread tonight/tomorrow if he fancies seeing how its looking.

This is looking miles better. Still got the red GT i bought from your bro. Will be updating my build thread tonight/tomorrow if he fancies seeing how its looking.

Cheers pal!

I've seen the progress on yours so far and it looks awesome. I've also got a tidy red coupe parked in my garage at the moment. Not quite as mint as yours and higher milage but it's a really nice unmolested example. Not sure whether it's a keeper yet but it definatley wants to stay unmodified and original in my opinion - not many left like that now are there!!!

Joe

No real update other than my cambelt snapped on Friday!!!!

So the head is off and with an engineer being skimmed, new valves, new vale stem oil seals and possibly new tappets. Might as well get the full lot done while the heads off!

Ill have it all built up on Friday / Saturday and back doing it's rounds.

Only changed the cambelt 10k ago, so need to establish whether it's been rubbing on something to avoid it happening again. Water pump is new and not seized, so it's not that.

Joe

Finally got my n/s quarter painted this week. A mate did it as a favour and he did a fine job, managed to get a really good paint match, especially considering the tired and patchy existing paintwork. Just need to clean and buff the rest of the car now!

I really need a tailgate for the car now as mine rattles like mad and it's driving me insane. If anyone has one, preferably in the right colour (LA5T), then let me know. Or if you have one in the wrong colour but in good condition and fairly local to me, please let me know.

I did the heater modification a few weeks ago, just in time for the winter months. If you don't like the cold (like me) i'd recommend it, and it a doddle to do.

I have considered selling as of late for another diesel, but i can't bring myself to do it. As a matter of fact, i have actually considered putting this back on stock suspension and going the OEM route.........but that will take some thinking about.

Car has now past 173k and is running well, even goes a bit better than before after the head was refurbished when the cambelt snapped.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

I too am seriously thinking about stock suspension... Also thinking about selling up for a newer car, possibly an A4 TDi.

Stock suspension or full Weitec equipment, my Brothers Mk2 has a Weitec kit and is lovely. Although I plan on driving around a bit next year to go off cycling at weekends and I feel that a bigger car would suit a bit better.

Love the work on the rear panel, looks a lot better!

I must admit i CONSTANTLY look at other cars, but i just don't want the hassle of buying something and working on it at the minute. Afterall, i've spent a lot of time and money getting my breadvan reliable and useable, i might as well just just keep it and use it! Would be sad to see yours sold on Martin it's ace!

A change has occured in the last few years whereby when i see a stock mk2 or 3 drive past the other way nowadays i always think "cool" despite it being 100% stock. They are getting more and more uncommon on our roads and i just like the design, lowered or not. I like the fact that people still use them as old workhorses and they just battle on. So yes it may be on the cards that i go all OEM-y (lol) next year.

The main thing at the minute is just sorting a tailgate out, the rattling is driving me insane. Once i eliminate the noise, ill know for sure whether i want wallowy high suspension or perhaps ill treat it to a kit of decent quality!

Thanks for the kind words re: the quarter!

Joe

Look fine now !

Ever thought of painting that rims white, or do some Polishing ?

Look fine now !

Ever thought of painting that rims white, or do some Polishing ?

Sorry - late reply!

I haven't really thought about white, and i'm not a fan of polished things really - too time consuming to do and with the weather in Bolton, too high maintenance!

I was intending to paint them in original silver (but in satin paint) when i got them but i just went for the black for speed in the end, plus i do quite them that way.

Picking a tailgate up tonight which looks to be in decent condition. It's not the right colour (capri green i think) so ill need to paint it, but it's progress at least!

Replaced the thermostat last week and the car warms up soo much faster now! Perfect in the winter cold.

Going to make a false floor in the next couple of months i think to make the load area a bit more presentable.

We have a lot of road trips and weekend's away planned this year so fingers crossed it can handle it!

Joe

We have a lot of road trips and weekend's away planned this year so fingers crossed it can handle it!

Joe

I have the same travel plans lined up for my GT hatch, you'll be fine, these are strong cars as you know!